6-The Glyphs of the Maya- Final Draft

8/3/2019 6-The Glyphs of the Maya- Final Draft

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How Might they be Understood in a ModernContext?

Colin Kovacic


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The Maya utilized a

system many compare tothe hieroglyphs of ancient

Egypt (thus they are saidto have a hieroglyphicwriting system)

While the Maya did usepictures in their writing

the system itself variedgreatly from that of theEgyptians, as is madeobvious in thiscomparison

The Writing System

Egyptian Mayan

(Coe 16)


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When written out as plain text, the glyphs of the Maya

were square or rectangular in shape

They were most often written in columns two glyphs wide,read from left to right and top to bottom (see picture)

The first glyph, called the initial, often took up the entirefirst and second rows of the double column, making it fourtimes bigger than normal

The succeeding glyphs were also sometimes twice as wideas a normal glyph, though not twice as tall

From then on the glyphs would be written as normal

The Glyphs

(Senner 205-11)


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Hieroglyphic texts can be foundcarved into the great Maya

temples, palaces, andobservatories

These often recounted Mayamythologies, provided important

dates in the complex Mayacalendar, kept track of Mayaastrology, and recorded thebirths, deaths, and coronations of

Mayan kings

The Texts

(Schele, Mathews 17-9)

Inscription from the Temple

of the Cross, Palenque


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Although not widely known, the

majority of Maya inscriptions areactually found on pottery

These clay codices are so prevalentbecause they survived the burningof other paper and wood codicesby Spanish missionaries

At one time the codex, foldedsheets of bark paper filled withpainted glyphs and artwork, mayhave been the most commonhieroglyphic record. Since theirburning, however, only threegenuine examples remain.

Other Texts

(Coe, Kerr 129)Pages from the Dresden Codex


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Maya glyphs were not just used as awriting system, they were also

incorporated into Maya art For example, in carvings the name of a

King may be intertwined within hisclothing or what may look like

decoration surrounding a god mayactually be a stylized glyph thatdescribes some aspect of hispersonality or purpose

In Art

(Stone, Zender 17-8)

A piece of artwork from theMaya Classic period. Thepainting depicts the MayanMoon Goddess. What looks tobe a tail is actually the Mayanmoon glyph, incorporated intothe painting in order to help

identify the deity.


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The Maya had a VERY complicated calendar system, in

fact, there were multiple ways to express one date

The long count used cycles of time to measure the timesince a specific point thousands of years in the past (theymythological beginning of the Maya)

The other main calendar was the Calendar Round. This

was a combination of a 260 day lunar year, called theTzolkin and a 365 day solar year called the Haab. Theround measured dates in 52-year cycles.

The Maya Calencar

(Senner 204)


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The reason this dating system is so important is

because the first ten or so glyphs of an inscriptioncan all be date glyphs!

Decoding the glyphs for Maya dates was the firststep to cracking the entire system

Dates and Glyphs

(Coe 101-09)

To the left is a traditional Maya

calendar round. The concentric stonerings represent the months of the Haaband the Tzolkin with a final inner ringwith number glyphs from one tothirteen. These rounds were used allacross the Yucatan to keep track of the

52 year Maya cycle.


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The hieroglyphic text was highly valued by the Maya

Some glyphs were logograms, glyphs that were meant to be readliterally (i.e. a glyph that looked like a skull meant skull)

Others were phonetic, meaning that the glyph represented asound; sometimes glyphs could be interpreted either way

The point is, the Maya had enough simple phonetic glyphs towrite without the logograms, which were complicated and tooktime to write.

For reasons not entirely known, the Maya chose not to give uptheir hieroglyphic writing style. Clearly their system was notsimply a means to record ideas but also a complex extension oftheir beliefs and culture.

The Value of Glyphs

(Coe, Kerr 54-5)


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Temples and palaces were almost always

commissioned by the king, thus he could have

anything he wanted inscribed on them. These inscriptions wont always agree with one

another. In fact, oftentimes they simply wont makeany sense at all.

One has to understand that there was no distinction

between history and myth for the Maya. What waswritten was truth, so the king might alter, forexample, his coronation date in order for it tocoincide with a luckier day or so that he might takecredit for the military conquests of a former ruler

The Words of a King

(Marcus xviii-xix)


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So the question is: How might the Maya writingsystem be understood in modern terms?

Understanding the glyphs in this context can help usunderstand their original use and allow us to relateto an otherwise distant culture.

In a Modern Context


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One thing the Maya saw fit to record were royalascensions

Well use the ascension of a modern ruler as aparallel: President Obama

A Modern Inscription


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*Note

The following slides provide afictional text usingpseudo-Mayan glyphs. The inscription is based on

the Leiden plaque (Senner 206) but contains noauthentic Maya glyphs (unless otherwise noted). Theinscription is an invention intended to facilitate theunderstanding of the Maya writing system and to

help draw parallels between our society and that ofthe ancient Maya. The glyphs are my own inventionand are original artwork.


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Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2008 Keeping with the Maya specificity in

regards to dates, well list the date as the

number of millenniums, centuries, years,months, weeks, and days since a certainpoint in history. For us, that would be thebirth of Christ

The initial* would represent that event, sothe glyph could look something like this:

The figure, Jesus, flanked by celestialbodies and crowned with a halo andwings to represent his heavenly origins.Underneath is the Maya symbol for zero(his age at birth)

Step One: The Date

(Senner 205-8)*see the third point on slide 4 for reference


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While the Maya would have

used pictures of gods as year,month, and day symbols, were

going to use more recognizableemblems For millennium: a stylized

roman numeral M (1000 years) For century: a lion and a fleur-

de-lis, representative of the 100

Years War fought betweenEngland and France For year: The earth completing

its orbit around the sun (withsymbols for spring and winterto clarify the time span)

Dates cont.

(Senner 205-8)

Note: the symbols to the left of each glyphrepresent numbers: the shell for zero, a bar

for five, and a dot for one


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For month: a moon

encircling the glyph forblack, indicating a newmoon, a complete lunarcycle (the lengths ofmonths are based on lunarcycles)

For week: Seven sun risesand seven sunsets flankedagain by the moon glyph

For day: One sunrise andone sunset

Dates cont.

Note: the symbols to the left of eachglyph represent numbers: the shell for

zero, a bar for five, and a dot for one(Senner 205-8)


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The Maya also had a sort of zodiac, with signs

they called lords of the night

This zodiac was used as part of the CalendarRound. They listed the date as such: The lordof the night X was seated in month Y

This was the way the Maya recorded theCalendar Round date (which, as stated earlier,

was simply used to corroborate the long count) So, here well write the sign for Aquarius1 (the

corresponding zodiac sign for this time of year),the Maya glyph for seated2, and a glyph for

February3

The Calendar Round

1 2

3

(Senner 205-8)


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Last, we actually have to write the event

weve spent so long dating!

First, well rewrite the glyph for seated Then a glyph for Obama (A kings name

could have been one emblem glyph, orwritten out phonetically. Here Im using anemblem glyph.)

An eagle with a crown signifying presidentor chief executive officer (crown meaningchief, eagle representing the executivebranch of government)

The Titles

(Senner 205-8)


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Last well use an emblemglyph denoting the kingdom

being ruled (the United States)and an authentic Maya glyphfor house (Macri, Looper 253)combined with a glyph for

white to further specify thelocation (the White House ofcourse!)

Location

(Senner 205-8)


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Now we have a complete record of Obamas

inauguration, written in true Maya style (if

not with authentic Maya glyphs) If you happened to notice that the

millenniums, centuries, years, months, anddays dont quite add up to Obamas realinauguration date, dont consider it a

mistake. Remember that if Obama were aMayan king he may have thought it luckierto be inaugurated on the first of February.Since that is how its written, thats how ithappened

The Completed

Inscription


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So what do you think? Are hieroglyphs quite as

confusing as they once seemed? Hopefully not. Then

again, its good to keep in mind that his was a verysimplified version of the system. To learn the entireMaya system takes years.

The idea, however, is to understand the glyphs in amodern context. How would we use glyphs today?

Its certainly different, but is it better or worse thanour system? Would you want to write as the ancientMaya did? The answer to that question could verywell explain the fate of Maya writing: its fall into thecategory of dead languages.

Conclusion


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Coe, Michael D.Breaking the Maya Code. New York: Thames and

Hudson, 1992. Print.

Coe, Michael D, and Justin Kerr. The Art of the Maya Scribe. New York:

Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Print.

Macri, Martha J, and Matthew G. Looper. The New Catalog of Maya

Hieroglyphs. Norman [Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press,

2003. Print.

Works Cited


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Marcus, Joyce.Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth, and

History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton, N.J: Princeton

University Press, 1992. Print.

Schele, Linda, and Peter Mathews. The Code of Kings: The Language of

Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs. New York: Scribner,

1998. Print.

Senner, Wayne M. The Origins of Writing. Lincoln: University of

Nebraska Press, 1991. Print.

Works Cited cont.


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Stone, Andrea J, and Marc Zender.Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic

Guide to Ancient Maya Painting and Sculpture. New York:

Thames & Hudson, 2011. Print.

Works Cited cont.

6-The Glyphs of the Maya- Final Draft

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